Animals: Swallowtail Caterpillar!!!

[packerbacker180]

Thanks, I appreciate you saying that. I don't really do sm either. I use my wife's Facebook to posts pictures when I'm doing stuff with the kids, and Twitter I got on mostly for fantasy sports news back in the day but now I use just to mostly post about local teams and wrestling. If you stray too far from those topics it's pretty much a cesspool, lol.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Your welcome. Well I'm not that social but i know how FB can be and it's ridicules. Cesspool is a good word there

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here is one I have been wanting to post about for a long time. Just a few short days ago I posted all the Blair Witch movie trailers in PB's 31 Days of Halloween Coming Soons. I hinted that there was a movie that predated The Blair Witch and that I might talk about it later. Well here it is on Halloween and it is called...



Now if you are unfamiliar with this lost & forgotten gem of a film, let Me tell you about it and why I chose to put it in this topic rather than PB's Movie Trailer topics or even My own Horror Topic. I chose it because it's about The Jersey Devil. Yes, THE same elusive & legendary creature of The Pine Barrens that Mrs. Leeds cursed as she had her 13th Child

Now if your familiar with The Blair Witch Project among other Found Footage films that are in documentary format that suggests that the movie is real and not an actual holliw3ird made film then you know these types of films try to deceive you including others like the Paranormal Activity franchise and even 2008's Cloverfield. This is only a sample of entries, there's a ton of'em out there over the years and Found Footage films is arguably My favorite kind of genre and it really is all because of The Last Broadcast

THE PLOT:

The story of the film is that it is narrated by documentary film-maker named David Leigh and his investigation of the Fact or Fiction murders. In this horrific case, two cable TV hosts of public-access television were murdered in mysterious circumstances. Leigh seeks to discover the truth behind these killings while making his documentary. Fact or Fiction is a show dealing with unsolved mysteries and the paranormal. It's two main hosts are Steven "Johnny" Avkast and Locus Wheeler. At this point of time Avkast comes up with the idea of a live Internet Relay Chat section of the show. Leigh seeks to discover the truth behind these killings while making his documentary. Out of the blue a caller tells the team to search for the Jersey Devil, the demonic cryptid that has been seen countless times for centuries within the beautiful yet scary Pine Barrens. So Avkast and Wheeler get a hold of Rein Clackin who is a sound-man who can allegedly record the paranormal and Jim Suerd, who is a psychic. So the plan is for the four guys to go to the Pine Barrens area where Suerd will lead them to the region of the Jersey Devil. As they go on the hunt for the creature, they will do a first as they'll broadcast a live show simultaneously via TV, the World Wide Web and even on amateur radio stations. They enter the darkness of the Barrens but only Suerd is seen alive. The others are brutally & gruesomely murdered and Avkast's body is never found and will remain a mystery as to what happen to it. Suerd was the one & only suspect whom was charged with murder of the other men. During his pathetic murder trial, testimony shows that Avkast unfortunately couldn't have survived as the loss of blood found as the crime scene suggests.

Tagline: What Actually Happen on that Night in the Woods

Here is the fun & spooky trailer. It gives the clarity of how serious this film takes itself. There is no indication that it's an actual film but like a very dark and far-reaching documentary that is seen on TV about serial killers and the like in the 90s and beyond. I love this trailer. I have seen it countless times. I just love how it's put together. It has the cool mid/late 90s sound, music, feeling and atmosphere that I miss in this day & age and overall it's just fun to watch, sometimes I cannot help to laugh after all of these years cause I know how the movie is and how it ends which really makes this even funner in a way



So here is Fact or Fiction's main 2 guys, the cool Public Access Screen, the Map of New Jersey and the beautifully yet bleak appearing woods of the Pine Barrens.



Now here is the host David Leigh whom is the filmmaker of this fine documentary. Here's some of the newspaper headlines of the accused James "Jim" L. Suerd. Here is many of experts on this case as well.



So after of all what you just saw. Here is the important notes and trivia of this film. It was originally supposed to come out in 1997 but was delayed until 1998. It was actually THE INSPIRATION for the Blair Witch, in another words is was a first that succumbed to the second hence like Man-Thing to Swamp Thing, Go-Bots to Transformers, Mail Order Monsters to Pokemon, NWA to WWF and so on. People always choose the second over the former. The same even goes for movies such as Dark City to the Matrix

THE SPECIAL NOTES!!

So with all of that said, THE LAST BROADCAST was THE first major FOUND FOOTAGE film. During the time it came out Me & My Grandparents didn't know about The Blair Witch as it wasn't 1999 yet as We rented The Last Broadcast from Hollywood Video (the same Hollywood Video that I recently showcased in My superb Glory Days of Video Rentals in My Odds & Ends. Since We were novices to this newer type of genre, We fell for the movie taking itself seriously as it WANTS you to believe that this is REAL. We weren't the only ones who fell for this at the time either however, when the Blair Witch Project came out a year later in 1999, the same thing happen to the plebeians with that film at the theaters but We weren't being fooled again.

The Last Broadcast holds many remarkable & tremendous feats as well such as these:

1. It started the new wave of REALITY HORROR with the Blair Witch Project following suit and making new opportunities for independent horror film makers to get in on the action PRETENDING that their movies WERE REAL as well as much larger budget movie makers too

2. The Last Broadcast was shot COMPLETELY IN DIGITAL Video which keep in mind this is 1997/1998

3. The Last Broadcast was the FIRST movie EVER to be broadcasted in theaters by SATELLITE which is arguably one of the most important parts for horror films and such a remarkable stat for cinema in general

Now here is a sweet bonus. The Internet Archive has it to see for free. If you do decide to give it a shot I suggest you do not fast forward thru it especially toward the end, you do not want to spoil yourself You can download this golden film that has unfortunately fallen to oblivion here if you have a good video sniffer ---> https://archive.org/details/the-last-broadcast-1998

So there you have it. Have you seen The Last Broadcast or even knew about it? Now the thing is, as The Last Broadcast was before The Blair Witch Project, it wasn't THE FIRST Found Footage movie, I know another one that is from 1989 that really sparked major controversy. I will get to that in time. I hope you liked this for Halloween

[BrandonDaCollector]

YES, finally here comes a special entry from Me about the Mothman Prophecies. First off if your unfamiliar with this here is 2 links to get your started...

Here is THE BOOK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mothman_Prophecies_(film)

Here is THE MOVIE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mothman_Prophecies

Now if you followed Me thru this topic and thru this board then you know I'm into a lot of stuff. So it was late 2001, My big films liked Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park /// & Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings had already came and went. My most anticipated film of all-time was The Mummy Returns, for months I visited the official website as they had a special countdown to it's release date. I got the epic score by Alan Silvestri and listened to it countless times and wondering what the heck is going on in these scenes that his cues are based from and I wasn't disappointed the slightest (I may talk about this later on down the road sometime later) and really I was equally excited for Elfman's POTA as well (to this day it's still his best IMO). This was during a different age where people seemed to be more excited about stuff then SM happened which is in the state we're in now. So after I had established all of this what was next Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones wasn't coming out for months...I found out maybe December 2001/January 2002 about the movie of The Mothman Prophecies and it was BINGO I was already a huge Cryptozoology fan/researcher so this film was right up My alley. Like The Mummy Returns, they had an official web page with a special countdown. The page is still around but of course the original appearance no longer exits. I distinctly recall how it appeared. It had the typical The Mothman Prophecies poster, options to check out like what the film is about, who's in it and so forth. the countdown meter was up in the upper-right-hand corner in bright red numbers mimicking The Mothman's spooky red glowing eyes Oh it was so cool. I followed this page daily till it's release date. Unfortunately I never had the opportunely to see it at the show but I wasted no time buying at it at Our local Hollywood Video on VHS and I watched it countless times as it was one film that was so fun, so spooky, so engaging more than any-other before and there has never been one like this since...they truly made a pure movie experience that everyone should take participation in at least once especially since this year of 2022 marks it's 20th Anniversary from 2002



The movie stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing & Alan Bates plus others all in great performances. It takes place in Point Pleasant, West Virgina as this is the original sightings of The Mothman was and where The Silver Bridge collapsed.



Here is some posters from the film





Here is the Trailers!!




In the film there is a scared couple that saw The Mothman. This is actually a regular occurrence just not with this creature but others over on the East Coast States in their respected Lover's Lane. Of course the most famous Lover's Lane incidents is in Maryland where the Goat Man is still said to be lurking around but he's a totally different cryptid entirely but where do you think they get all those ideas in horror films where couples are attacked by a crazed lunatic or a monster EXACTLY..its all inspired from these sort of real life sightings that has happen over the course for many, many decades



One of the key moments of the whole film is near the beginning when John & his wife Mary are looking for a house to buy. They have an older couple playing around moment (your never to old to have moments with your better half and when the moment arises you should never ever pass it up!) and the real-estate agent barges in and interrupts their nice time together and John says "we'll take it". This was really a good scene. I have always adored it



Their fun time doesn't last long as when she is driving her car she sees The Mothman like a vision and they get into a bad accident. Mary is in critical condition while John only suffered minor injures. He hurries up to go to the hospital and she wakes up in hysteria and is basically in shock asking him did he see it and he's like see what



Unfortunately she dies and he's not taking it well as a man shouldn't because his lover is gone. Her nurse sees him looking at her drawings and he says she was drawing angels. I assure you The Mothman is no Angel



I ripped these pics from the film as these are the only glimpses that the viewer sees of The Mothman. Take a good gander at'em cause in the film they go by so quick. Is this Holliweird's version of the creature or are they trying to tell us something about the true appearance of The Mothman



Here is The Mothman & Indrid Cold. Both are in the film. As much as we know about them, we really know nothing. Both is said to be associated with UFOs & the Supernatural. Sometimes its said they are one in the same while others say they were two completely different entities entirely



You can read about them further in these links below...

Mothman ---> https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Mothman

Indrid Cold ---> https://themothman.fandom.com/wiki/Indrid_Cold
---> https://exemplore.com/cryptids/Mothman-Alien-or-Bizarre-Prophet-Who-is-Indrid-Cold

Here is one of the spooky scenes from the film...follow it closely. In the film he's more of a paranormal/extra-dimensional being rather than a flesh & blood creature.



Notice how John had missing time as he couldn't remember how he got to Point Pleasant. This is common with UFO abductions and the like however if some theories are correct that extraterrestrials are extra-dimensional beings than that means they will have supernatural-like powers which humanity cannot fathom. While John was never abducted, he had a similar situation here.







One thing I love about the film is he finds an expert in these matters named Alexander Leek. If you've see stuff and it's become a personal agenda its best to see a researcher or somebody that knows what's your going through your life and encounters but it can be hard finding the right person.




Watch & LISTEN to this



After John suddenly appears in West Virgina, Point Pleasant's Sheriff Connie Mills is cautious about him but sees he is troubled and befriends him. They develop a slow relationship together over time in the story. I've always liked Laura Linney. I never found her hot or anything like that but a gal that is really nice looking and that you just can't help but to like and just feel for her. The first movie I believe I saw her in was 1995's Congo where she was the lead & hero of the film, ever since that one I never forgot about her and seeing her in The Mothman Prophecies was truly a treat. Every woman doesn't have to be hot, they just have to be good and she's a great example of that






I always thought she looked liked one of My fave women wrestlers Alundra "Madusa" Blayze

One thing I that must point out here is that of all seasons it could have been, it's Christmas time. There's a really sweet scene of a Holiday get-together





Here is the infamous BRIDGE COLLAPSE scene. It's in Russian but yoi can see MOST of what the story is TRULY ABOUT, its one of the most horrific disaster scenes I have ever seen and LISTEN TO THE MUSIC CLOSELY, it captures the scene perfectly



SUPER SPECIAL SECTION

Now here is the music...it was a terrific time for the people who collected soundtracks & movie scores because Lakeshore Records (Lakeshore's sister Company (owned by Sony) who produced the film) went all the way out and made a double CD Edition that acted like a regular release. It was a happy situation for those that don't pay attention to the actual score because it had the soundtrack of some great songs on Disc 1 and on Disc 2 it would have the movie score for those that paid attention to the actual music that made the film what it is and for those "extremely rare outlier breeds" like Myself that likes both of the two worlds Over the decades there has been countless releases where a soundtrack has numerous songs yet one 1 or 2 cues of musical score which is so pathetic, only once in awhile do studios release a half & half of the two kinds on a CD like Judge Dredd's 1995 release for example but it is such an uncommon factor that a company releases both kinds in 1 set and this set was a regular release that was worldwide and NOT a special limited edition. 2002 was quite a different year, basically the last of the remnants of the 90s. Soundtrack & Score fans & collectors were quite critical back in the day before social media had to take flight when they'd write reviews instead of this day & age's 2 word tweets or one sentence stuff as there is only a handful of people out there that still do this I don't know what today's generation thinks of this but that's if they even care but in My day when this came out it was marvelous, surprising and just fun. I listened to both of these countless times over the years and I still do (My Grandma loved both of'em especially the songs (and usually she's for the score), We'd listen to it many times on Our fun trips to the stores). Out of all My movie score & soundtrack collection, The Mothman Prophecies set is like the most prized regular editions and I am quite grateful that I own it and that I was part of this special time

RIP MIMI PARKER She was really a good singer & musician and her song for The Mothman Prophecies has always been one that always stuck with Me



Now here is a sample of the great score by underrated horror music duo tomannandy. If you have seen the film once or more, paid attention to score (the music always, ALWAYS makes the movie, IDK why most people don't acknowledge that) then you'll know what this cue is from (I always love to listen to the music first then watch the movie and be like yep, there it is...it's so fun doing that



A couple years after I saw the film, I was searching for books at Amazon. There was a preorder for a new Cryptozoology book by an author I didn't know named Ronan Coghlan. He's an Irish Crypozoological researcher and an expert collector of Folklore. Like anybody that is serious of the topic I preordered the book. I liked the book so much I e-mailed him and praised him. He actually replied to Me quick and we spoke off & on for a long while and he even entered a few things in his future books that I asked him to do Last time I spoke to him he he was recovering from "The Black Death", I hope he is still doing well. I may talk about him later on and share about all of his books that I have I found it strange that Alan Bates' character sort of resembles Ronan Coghlan

Well that'll conclude this special of My 20th Anniversary of 2002's Mothman Prophecies. I wanted to do something of The Mothman Prophecies like this for a long time. I hope you liked all of this and I'll continue with this cryptid/paranormal creature sometime later plus much more. There's a lot more content within the topic by Me as well. I made a special of 1997's/1998's The Last Broadcast for Halloween about The Jersey Devil, check that out if you haven't already ...until the next entry I'll see you around

[BrandonDaCollector]

As cold as it is, I saw this cute little Red Beetle in the Bathroom the other day

[BrandonDaCollector]

So here it is, finally I am posting about this. This happen to Me in the Summer of 1997 when I was about 16 1/2 years old at this time. It was a time when I notice the weather becoming rather weird, a precursor to today's insane weather if you will. This just isn't an important sighting because it's still unknown to Me at this very moment but is crucial because this year marks the 25th Anniversary that I saw the mysterious creature I know for a fact that this mysterious animal was an ARTHROPOD Arthropods means "Jointed Foot". It is the largest super family in the animal kingdom that consists of Insects & Bugs, Arachnids such as Spiders & Scorpions plus Millipedes & Centipedes aka Thousand Leggers and also all of your Crustaceans/Decapods. They are actually some of My favorite kinds of life forms, I find them so interesting and alien-like

NOTE: One day I was out with My Grandma and I said to her I wanted to stop where My sighting was so I took these pictures long ago for a purpose to one day show where My sighting had occurred at and and I also drew the Arthropod as well way over a decade ago so here we are

So it happen one hot night at about 10:30 PM or so while Me and My Grandpa was walking around the block like We usually used to do after We watched WWF Monday Night Raw, WCW Monday Nitro, X-Files or some good movie that was on TV or that We had rented or I bought (gosh I miss that, We'd used to talk about what We just watched, the surroundings around us and more, look in My Odds & Ends for My Paramount Drugs as to what when We used to walk to the Tower Grove Park). I love the night city street lights in the foreground & background just about anywhere especially in My neighborhood, always have, always will I was walking a head of him and he was behind Me a several feet and We were near the Heating & Cooling building @ Morgan Ford Road & Burgen Ave...





I was just walking down there as usual, I was looking at one of the deep cracks/creases of the sidewalk...



I noticed something odd, rather downright strange there I had never seen before but I wasn't sure what it was so I kept My eye on it and at a split second of realization I knew it was some kind of animal as it was looking right at Me hearing My vibrations and it moved extremely fast and went inside the deep crack within the sidewalk and I couldn't believe it I mean it booked with such lightning speed I asked My Grandpa PoPo if he saw it and he said no so I was the only one that witnessed this and this Cryptid looked like THIS...




Oh My that is what I saw in Cryptozoology it always helps to get as MUCH DETAIL AS POSSIBLE. It's a a lot shame people don't come forward with their sightings because of ridicule and I also know it can be rather difficult for for people because most sightings happen when your least expecting it. It helps even more if there is some kind of proof like a picture of it or even a sketch or drawing. Long ago I made a drawing of it so here My THEORETICAL DRAWING of My sighting of this cryptic Arthropod so pay attention to closely




Along with the Theoretical Drawing of Mine, I also drew My LOCATION and THE ENTIRE AREA including THE ARTHROPOD along with MYSELF Follow My DIAGRAM very close for pics right after it




Now since you studied that, you see Me...I always wore a white shirt & long black shorts. Notice The Arthropod there...



Notice The Arthropod moving a way as it/he/she noticed Me looking at them...



And notice the Arthropod Cryptid going away towards the set out of the picture never to be seen again



Here is more real pictures of the Area where this peculiar Arthropod Cryptid disappeared into the cracks of the sidewalk into the subterranean darkness






FINAL VERDICT: So that's all there is which is as much proof & detail as I could get together. I had held onto this for over 25 years now. I don't bother with Cryptozology.com cause they changed liked so much else and they always poo-poo things away with My sightings and I tried with people on YT but their "too big & too busy" for little sightings I know for a fact that was INDEED an ARTHROPOD because I know just about any kind of Arthropod specie first glimpse I see one. My prob is I don't know what family this one belongs too but I believe it was either an Arachnid or a Crustacean because they have 8 to at least 12 limbs which this brings Me to contemplate that it was some kind of Decapod meaning "Ten Foot/Feet" because it does resemble Isopods such as a Armadillidium vulgare aka the Roly Poly Bug or Pill Bug or even other Woodlouse species like the Porcellio scaber because despite their names, they are NOT bugs, they ARE Crustaceans. I have seen countless numbers of those species for many, many years inside & outside of My home but they have a limit of sizes which the biggest they get is about the size of a female Firefly...Isopods elsewhere can get as large as a medium size dog or possibly slightly bigger Again these giants are not what I saw. As I mentioned before, this thing was fast I mean it ran with incredible speed and it was quite aware of Me either by sight or sound or both

So have you seen anything like this in person or perhaps someone you know seen something like this. I have scoured the web for years and saw tons of species and nothing was like this at all. Study this please, think to yourself...maybe YOU can solve My Mysterious Arthropod Sighting of 1997 that has perplexed Me that this year celebrates it's 25th Anniversary

[BrandonDaCollector]

So it was already New Years (see PB's Topic & My Odds & Ends for more) and people were still shooting off their Fireworks but I was hangin' it up. I saw this creepy looking moon through the clouds, it was like a Charlie Brown Moon...take a gander at this



I mean it was warmer & kinda freaky outside and didn't seem like New Year's Morning at all rather Halloween time really. Above Me in Our old Mulberry Tree I knew something was there. I looked up and it was this little guy



That's right it was a Opossum. He was looking right at Me watching My every move. I tried to take a good set of pictures of him but he was so high up it was rather difficult however I'm happy with these plus it even shows off his eyes and makes him spooky that fits this odd New Year's Early Morning



Now let Me explain a little about this species. They are The Virginia Opossum and the ONLY Marsupial in North America. A lot of people say their bad and look like Rats. Let Me tell'ya, These people don't know the Animal Kingdom very well. Marsupials are known to look like other types of animal species, its the way they evolved. Every Marsupial special has a pouch like a Kangaroo does (even the Yowie is theorized to have a pouch!) this means that this Possum I saw & talked to last night does as well. I have had big experiences with them over the past two decades or so which I have seen Mama Possums with their younglings on their back and putting them in their pouches...its so cute. These Possums are actually an extremely important part of Cryptozoology because they are considered a "Living Fossil" because they have existed for at least 100,000 years with NO change in their biology & anatomy whatsoever, that is such an incredible aspect of this study

I hope if you have these critters in your area that you are good to them and welcome their stay, they are harmless to humans and are quite efficient too because they eat your nuisance pests like Mice & Rats even carrion & rotten food and will chase off even Raccoons. We' used to feed them all the time but now only once in a while. We used to have a ton of'em including a huge one that My Grandma named Barry White, a big bright white one I called Moby and real old one that had war scars all over his body that I called Scar which I saw him in action fending off a Coon which I helped him with his battle. Coons can be good but they are not really docile and you definitely don't want them to stay like a Possum should.

Well, I hope you liked this little surprise update here for New Year's Day. Remember, any questions you have about animals I know a bit so do not hesitate to talk here and ask Me

[AcidDragon]

Hey, Mothman Prophecies is one of our all time favorite movies in the home here. What a stellar film and you've done a great write-up, Brandon! Also, that's one creepy encounter you had with that Opossum.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Well that's great that you love the movie Acid. Thanks for that, I was trying to make it as best as I could and since it was Christmas time I had to include the Christmas scene as well. Yeah it was but their good critters like I said, I wasn't afraid of'em one bit, I've been around them for a long time If you haven't seen the rest of the topic, there's a lot more to see & to come here

[BrandonDaCollector]

Just only a few short hours ago after I took the trash out, I saw the big Opossum that I saw for New Years down the alley which I hope he/she is careful. When I got back in the yard I saw another one that is smaller/younger looking at Me near the bird houses, I hurried up and took a picture of this cutie little critter

Like I said before on New Year's morning, Opossums are good. Lately there has been a Raccoon problem here as We have them around again, you don't want them cause they get into everything including your home, Opossums are the complete opposite as they get rid of vermin, I'd really like more people to realize how efficient they are and that their the only Marsupial on this continent. I was hoping to see a Groundhog on Groundhog Day but no luck. We have them around here, I'd love to see one and take a good pic of one and post it and talk about it

OK, for those of you that hasn't seen it check out My stuff within this topic starting with The Last Broadcast, I have many topics that has such a low amount of communication within them that is really inconsistent and its a real bummer I have posted a lot of cool stuff here like My Mysterious Arthropod sighting from 1997 and much more. I have even more great content to come soon